Crown Castle Inc.

Good day, and welcome to the Crown Castle fourth quarter 2023 earnings call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Chris Henson, Vice President of Corporate Finance and Treasurer. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Scott, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today as we discuss our fourth quarter 2023 results. With me on the call this morning are Tony Malone, Crown Castle's interim chief executive officer, and Dan Schlinger, Crown Castle's chief financial officer. To aid the discussion, we have posted supplemental materials in the investor section of our website at crowncastle.com that will be referenced throughout the call this morning. This conference call will contain forward-looking statements which are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, and actual results may vary materially from those expected. Information about potential factors which could affect our results is available in the press release and the risk factor sections of the company's SEC filings. Our statements are made as of today, January 25, 2024, and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. In addition, today's call includes discussions of certain non-GAAP financial measures. Tables reconciling these non-GAAP financial measures are available in the supplemental information package in the investor section of the company's website at crowncastle.com. With that, let me turn the call over to Tony.

Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Before I begin, I'd like to take a moment to thank Jay Brown for his 25 years of service to Crown Castle, including the past seven as CEO. We are grateful for his many contributions over those years and wish him well in his retirement. As we work to identify the next CEO, I am also thankful for the board's confidence in me to lead the company during this interim period. I'm excited to serve in this capacity. I've been associated with Crown Castle for over 25 years, principally as a customer, but also as a joint venture partner in the early days, and most recently as a member of Crown Castle's board of directors. Over that time, I've witnessed the Crown Castle team of dedicated, talented people grow the company into the nation's leading provider of shared communications infrastructure. In my first few weeks in the new role, I have been impressed by the open, candid, and thoughtful discussions I've had with teammates throughout the organization. I am enthusiastic and optimistic about our path forward. In the near term, I will be focused on the following priorities. First and foremost, I am committed to ensuring that our organization continues to execute for our customers, positioning us to meet or exceed our financial and operating goals in 2024. Secondly, I want to facilitate a seamless transition to the company's next CEO. And lastly, I will assist the board in evaluating the alternatives that may come out of our strategic fiber review and help position the company to maximize shareholder value, regardless of the outcome of that review. My confidence in achieving these priorities is bolstered by having a closely aligned leadership team that is focused on delivering strong operational performance. To that end, I'm pleased to announce that Dan Schlinger will continue serving as Crown Castle's Chief Financial Officer. Dan has been a valuable member of our executive leadership team for the past seven years. His expertise, leadership, and institutional knowledge will be vital as we position the company for success in 2024 and beyond. In addition, Mike Cavanaugh, Currently, our chief commercial officer has been appointed chief operating officer for the tower segment. Chris Lavendos will remain in the role of chief operating officer for the fiber segment. The tower, small cell, and fiber solution sales teams currently under Mike will be distributed across these two organizations. I believe this change in leadership structure provides an enhanced focus on generating the highest returns in each business segment and will best enable us to maximize value across our portfolio. We have also recently taken steps to further strengthen our company's board with the addition of three new directors, Jason, Sunit, and Brad. Each bring valuable financial, operational, and industry experience. We look forward to benefiting from their unique insights and expertise as we work to leverage our strong foundation and position Crown Castle for the future. At this point, I'd like to share some of my personal insights into how I see Crown Castle positioned. In my 30-plus years of experience in the wireless industry, I have seen the tower business grow tremendously, particularly during periods of generational upgrades. During my time at Verizon, the shift from 3G to 4G required more tower densification than initially expected and more than initially deployed. The coverage and capacity from the new 4G technology and corresponding new spectrum that it was deployed on was not sufficient to meet the promised performance levels of that technology. This was especially true at cell edge and resulted in further densification over time. I think a similar dynamic is in play with 5G. The remaining densification required to deliver on the promise of 5G performance will drive not only robust tower growth, but also significant demand for small cells. As the largest shared communications infrastructure provider in the U.S., with a unique portfolio of towers, small cells, and fiber, I am excited to see how we can take advantage of these industry trends and deliver value to our shareholders. As a final note, the work of the CEO Search Committee is underway. And the Fiber Review Committee is well into its work as it oversees the board and management's review of strategic and operational alternatives that maximize value across our enterprise. We will provide updates on each as developments warrant. With that, I'll turn the call over to Dan.